Spreading the joy of music

For Kathryn Selby, it has been a more than 50-year love affair with the piano.

As a little girl growing up in Castle Cove, she relished any opportunity to visit her parents’ friends’ house and tinker on their upright piano.

“My parents used to tell me that every time we were visiting there, I would just disappear and bang on their piano,” she recalls to North Shore Living.

“I was wanting a piano, probably, because it was nice and big, and I could make a lot of noise on it. [laughs]. They finally gave me an upright for my birthday when I was seven or eight.”

Showing a natural aptitude, Kathryn soon began studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before moving overseas to attend the famed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at just 15.

She went on to earn her master’s degree from New York’s renowned Julliard School, launching a career that has seen her win prizes at several prominent international competitions, debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall, and be a founding member of the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Group.

Kathryn has also been a guest artist with orchestras across the USA and Australia and performed at many of the world’s leading arts festivals.

“I love performing. It makes me feel comfortable, being on stage and being able to talk to an audience and interact with them. So, I guess [the piano] fits my personality,” she explains. 

“I can’t live without it. It’s part of my DNA.” 

After returning to Australia in the late 80s and settling in Northbridge, Kathryn set about creating a concert series at the Powerhouse Museum introducing classical musical to school children.

“When I came back from America, I thought I’d get together with a bunch of my musical friends who I was reconnecting with for these concerts, and Selby & Friends was born,” she continues.

“I quickly realised we were working towards performing for older audiences and it kind of grew from there.

“We use the same ideology for adults as we did for the kids, in that we talk about things we find interesting about the composer or about the music, or about our reactions to the music or funny things that happen in rehearsals.

“Just human stuff that would allow people to relate to the music as human beings.”

Back after a cancelled 2020 season due to the coronavirus outbreak, the twelfth instalment of the Selby & Friends’ touring concert series will focus on the piano trio genre, showcasing the piano, violin and cello.

“The genre has been extremely popular with composers since the 18th century and stems from a time when the piano was like the TV – everybody had one,” Kathryn explains.

“The whole idea of writing ‘home music’ for friends being able to be together was a really important social development in our musical area.

“Great composers pushed the genre along, so that it developed from the piano being centre stage to becoming a little, mini-chamber ensemble, where you had two, three or four other instruments who represented a much larger force.”

Despite the array of international accolades, Kathryn says it is this opportunity to educate and foster new audiences across Australia with Selby & Friends that has been the highlight of her career.

“I think that’s the greatest achievement – that people liked it enough to support it all these years,” she reveals.

The Selby & Friends 2021 touring season will visit both Turramurra Uniting Church and the Sydney City Recital Hall with dates through May, July, September and November. For further details or to purchase tickets, head to selbyandfriends.com.au.